Contraceptives a game changer for crisis-affected women in northern Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Despite the recent return of dozens of girls abducted by the insurgent group Boko Haram, the crisis in northern Nigeria remains acute, with mass movements of civilian populations within the country and over the border.

Food shortages, lack of security and deepening poverty mean conditions are dire for many northern Nigerian families. Some 8.5 million people require life-saving aid in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, according to recent UN reports. Hundreds of thousands more are living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

The urgent needs of affected populations threaten to overshadow the specific health needs of women. Yet modern contraceptives and reliable family planning information are critical for these women and girls, whose lives have been turned upside-down.

Increasing awareness, access

The programmes also include training to enable health workers to provide family planning counselling. And communities are being targeted with accurate family planning information through community-level advocacy efforts, radio spots and billboards.

Support for this programme has come from a variety of donors, including the US Agency for International Development, which provided funding for operations between 2014 and 2016.

As a result of these activities, experts say more women are seeking family planning information and services. More than 1.5 million women and girls in north-eastern Nigeria were reached between 2015 and 2016.

Many of those women say it has been empowering to make decisions about their own futures. Ms. Sani says this is what she wants for her own daughter.

“I will never allow my daughter to go through what happened to me,” she said. “My daughter will be 20 and will have an education – this is what we want. And she will choose her husband,” she added.

Government representatives and health experts will take up the issue of expanding access to family planning in crisis-affected communities at the upcoming Family Planning Summit in London.